The thematic issue is devoted to the influence of war on the emergence of new transnational communication spheres and experiences during the first half of the twentieth century in Europe. While the interstate and civil wars during this period generally denote a withdrawal to national or nationalistic positions, we can simultaneously observe an increase in the intertwining and convergence of European experiences which strengthened transnational references and networks during times of existential insecurity and threat. The case studies presented here reveal the importance for the study of such references and networks of peripheral regions, detention camps, resistance and exile, the participation in collective cultural production, and the construction of common infrastructure. They offer exemplary evidence for the emergence of trans-European structures, convergences, and public spheres during the first half of the twentieth century that remained, not without consequences, for later developments. Thus, the thematic issue’s intention is to propose approaches to forming a broken Europeanization narrative, in which divergence appears as a constitutive – and not only restraining – element. In this way, it calls for a stronger consideration of transnational influences in the historiography of European wars during the twentieth century.

Biographical Notes

Dr. Barbara Lambauer (Identités, relations internationales et civilisations de l’Europe, Sorbonne U, France)Barbara Lambauer is a historian specializing in transnational history from the late nineteenth to the twentieth century and a research partner of SIRICE (Identités, relations internationales et civilisations de l’Europe) at Sorbonne University in Paris. After studying history at the University of Graz, she gained a PhD from the Paris Institute of Political Studies. Her research deals with collaboration, policies of repression, and anti-Semitic persecution in France and Europe during the Second World War. Her current project focuses on Jewish minorities and mass migrations between 1880 and 1930.

Prof. Dr. Christian Wenkel (Study Centre History and Societies, U Artois, France)Christian Wenkel is an associate professor of history and international relations at the University of Artois. After studying history, philosophy, and modern literature at the Universities of Mainz and Dijon, he gained a PhD on the history of international relations from the Paris Institute of Political Studies and the University of Munich. His recent research projects focus on the interrelations between the European integration process and the Cold War and their consequences for Europeanization processes in the twentieth century.